An Outside View of Inside NakwamoruBy Fionn Rogan

The O marks the location of Nakwamoru within the Turkana district in Kenya

But the only map I had before going to Nakwamoru was this, done by Mike Cunningham …somehow I managed to travel the 450 miles and arrive safely…

Nakwamoru is a dry, dusty and sparsely laid out village.

It’s extremely hot for locals and visitors alike

The plants are hostile…

And the toilet facilities for guests are very basic

The locals live in grass and mud huts

And there are sometimes armed bandits prowling about looking for cattle

After arriving, I rested and slept off the journey of getting there

The next morning the locals were outside talking,

they had heard a visitor was coming to town

They were very curious and lots of people turned out to have a good look at me…

At first, I wasn’t sure if Europeans were welcome…

It was a complete mistake, I was made feel completely at home and a friend to all

I took my time to walk around the village and witness the local life

Here men would sleep anywhere they wanted, often on the ground

I was shown inside the school...

...the health unit…

…and the church

I met the men in all their regalia

And the women in all theirs, these ladies insisted I pay them for taking this picture

The village was helpless without the river and irrigation

But with it everyone kept busy to grow maize, the main crop of the area

Despite this, there is still a shortage of food. Each family gets donations of 9kg a month

All meals are a basic porridge called ugale

The labour in the village is still entirely manual

To travel anywhere one has to either walk or cycle

And to get to the nearest town, one has to walk across the nearby Turkwell river

The health unit didn’t have enough beds for all its patients

Some children were very effected by this trauma

Amidst all this drama, life went on…

When not demonstrating ridiculous poses for my camera

The boys had a little game to catch birds

The waited patiently while it walked around and followed its nose…

…to the food inside the trap. The bird wasn’t alive for long after this happened

The locals certainly knew how to sing and celebrate

And on my last night in Nakwamoru they all danced together in the dark

There was just about enough time for tea in the tea hut…

Before I hit the road home to tell the story of all I’d seen

The End